Chinese people pay high attention to climate change

A public survey has shown that 93.4 percent of the Chinese public understands the idea behind climate change, and 77.7 percent of Chinese citizens have expressed concern, according to the newly released China Public Awareness Survey Report on Climate Change and Climate Communication at a press conference on Thursday in Beijing.

The China Public Awareness Survey Report on Climate Change and Climate Communication was released at a press conference on Thursday in Beijing. [Photo by Mi Xingang]

The nation-wide awareness survey on climate change is the first of its kind in China, and is jointly conducted by the Center for China Climate Change Communication and the Statistics Institute of Renmin University of China.

The overall results show that most Chinese citizens believe the climate to be in a process of change, and is mainly caused by human activities, according to Wang Binbin, the executive director of the Center for China Climate Change Communication. She added that a majority of Chinese said they have noticed the harmful consequences that climate change has brought about.

The report said that 61 percent of the interviewees say they have experienced climate change and 47.9 percent think climate change exerts more influence on rural residents compared to urban citizens.

On the issue of how to deal with the situation, 76.3 percent of the interviewees agree that if human do not change their behavior, negative consequences will follow and 87 percent express that they would like to buy environment-friendly products at higher prices.

When asking about who should be held responsible for handling the issue, 88.9 percent of the participants chose the government among with other four entities: the public, media, enterprises and non-governmental organizations. However, the climate change reports released by scientific research institutions are considered to be the most reliable, rather than the information from the government or media.

The main channels for climate change communication include television, mobile phones and the Internet, and account for 93.8 percent, 66.1 percent and 65 percent of communication respectively.

During the two-month long surveying process this year, a total of 4,169 effective samples were collected through CATI and the interviewees were aged between 18 to 70, and covered locations across mainland China, according to Zhao Yanyun, the president of the Statistics Institute of Renmin University of China.

Zheng Baowei, the director of the Center for China Climate Change Communication, expressed that their research has been focused more on public awareness and participation in climate change, beginning this year. He added that the English version of the report will be released on the COP 18 United Nations Climate Change Conference in December at Doha, Qatar.